Sheffield Trades and Labour Council - 1910s and 20s

1910s and 20s

Many of the lighter trades remained with the Federated Trades Council, the heavier trades mostly affiliated solely to the new organisation. A few groups remained affiliated to both Trades Councils; for example, Hobson remained President of the Federated, but also held membership of the Trades and Labour.

The ILP disaffiliated from the Trades and Labour in 1910, after local ILP leader Alf Barton proposed to stand as a local election candidate without the sanction of the Trades Council. However, Barton left the ILP soon after to form a local branch of the British Socialist Party, and the ILP reaffiliated the following year.

At the start of World War I, both Trades Councils supported Army recruitment campaigns, but from 1916, the Trades and Labour opposed the war. In 1917, it passed a motion congratulating the Russian people on the February Revolution, and in December, another congratulating "the Socialist Proletariat of Russia on their present achievement (i.e. the Bolshevik Revolution) and wishing them success in their endeavour to build up a real Socialist Commonwealth". A strong shop stewards' movement, with J. T. Murphy a leading figure, and a wave of strikes strengthened the position of the Trades and Labour. In 1920, it protested against the Labour Party's refusal to permit the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) to affiliate.

By 1920, the Trades and Labour represented almost 60,000 workers. The Federated's membership had not grown, and remained at around 15,000. It also remained a far less radical organisation, and had readily joined the Alliance of Employers and Employees. After many attempts to reunite the two, they finally reunited in July 1920 as the Sheffield Federated Trades and Labour Council, under the Presidency of Gertrude Wilkinson.

During the 1920s, the Trades Council was prominent in supporting strikers, such as during the engineering lockout of 1922, and measures to benefit the large numbers of unemployed workers. It also published Sheffield Forward, and provided a twenty-four hour Central Committee to organise the city's workers during the General Strike.